In some known systems, online activities can use user facial expressions to perform actions for an online activity. For example, in some known systems, the systems may estimate a user's facial expressions so as to determine actions to perform within an online activity. Various algorithms can be used to analyze video feeds provided by some known systems (specifically, to perform facial recognition on frames of video feeds so as to estimate user facial expressions). Such algorithms, however, are less effective when a user engages in virtual reality (VR) activities. Specifically, VR hardware (such as VR helmets, headsets, and/or other apparatuses) can obscure portions of a user's face, making it difficult to detect a user's facial expressions while using the VR hardware.
Thus, a need exists for apparatuses, methods and systems that can accurately and efficiently detect user facial expressions even when the user's face is partially obscured.